Fri, Oct 29, 2010
President Obama Says Packages Contained "Explosive
Materials"
Packages found abroad addressed to U.S. addresses contained
"explosive materials" according to President Obama (pictured).
Discovery of the packages caused some cargo planes to be grounded
Friday, and led to a day of heightened tensions.
In a statement from the White House, Obama said that the
packages represented a "credible terrorist threat" to the U.S. al
Qeada on the Arabian Peninsula is thought to be responsible for the
packages, which had originated in Yemen.
CNN reports that authorities were searching for 13 packages that
had been sent from Yemen. Some had been found, but others are still
missing. Cargo planes landing in Philadelphia, and Newark were
inspected, and six of the packages were found on board two UPS
planes in Philadelphia. Authorities have said that the incident
could be a "dry run" to gauge the level of security before
conducting a terrorist attack.
At least one passenger plane en route to New York's JFK Airport
which was reportedly carrying a package from Yemen was escorted by
NORAD jets from Canada and the U.S. That plane landed without
incident, but authorities said they were acting out of "an
abundance of caution." In a statement released to the media about
that flight, Emerates Airlines said "Emirates Flight EK201, which
has ... landed at JFK, originated in Dubai not in Yemen, as
reported in the U.S. media. More information will follow as soon as
we have it. Emirates is co-operating fully with the US
authorities."
The first packages were discovered Thursday night. One was
described as a "toner cartridge" that had been tampered with and
had wires attached. Authorities did not say if the possible dry run
was for an attempt to get explosives onto planes and into the U.S.,
or to assess the practicality of shipping unassembled bomb
components into the U.S.
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